Old Reloading Components??

Mike.B

Mike.B

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Just went through some of my reloading gear and noticed I have powder and primers that have not been used in about 5 years. They have been stored in a wood box in my gun room. One of the powder bottles still has the seal on it. Are these primers and powders still good to use or should I dispose of them? While I am asking, I have reloaded ammo that has been sitting just as long. Is the ammo still okay to use?
 
I have had primers stored for over 15 years and they worked fine. 2000 lot of CCI small rifle. I'm down to less than 500 left, not one miss fire or dud
 
Just recently opened a can of IMR4831 .... bought in 1972.

Does it smell good?, yes:). Any rusty coloured powder in the bottom of the can?, no :)
How's it shoot? ..... same as all the other cans from that batch have ... great!:D

The Hallam's Sporting Goods pricetag?, $ four bucks a lb. at retail. :cool:
 
I'vegot half a pound of blue dot from back when it was Hercules, at least 25 years old. It was my dads and god knows how long he had it so it could be older than that, but I grabbed it when I was a teenager and just started using it a few months ago, works great, and was stored on my old bedroom floor in mom's basement for at least 20 of those years.
 
Not one of you guys have talked about OLD componets!
I still have WW2 surplus powder that they named H4831. It came in 50 pound kegs and cost about $20 a keg. I still use it, just last week I loaded and shot some in my 243. Still works perfect.
I have RWS primers that I purchased in the mid 1960s. The only reason I still have some is because RWS are really good primers and I have nursed them along over the years, for special occassions.
Some of my Norma powder also probably dates back to the 1960s. Still works perfect.
I still have some Herters powder which I have recently been successfully using. Many of you guys have probably never even heard of Herter's powder.
Fellows, you have a lot to learn about the shelf life of reloading compnents and loaded ammunition.
 
Mike.B said:
Just went through some of my reloading gear and noticed I have powder and primers that have not been used in about 5 years. They have been stored in a wood box in my gun room. One of the powder bottles still has the seal on it. Are these primers and powders still good to use or should I dispose of them? While I am asking, I have reloaded ammo that has been sitting just as long. Is the ammo still okay to use?
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OP, these guys are all lying to you. All of that old stuff is worthless and downright dangerous. You better send it all to me for proper disposal. I am such a nice guy I will even pay the shipping.;)

Seriously, I have shot ammo that was many decades old with no problems at all. If you kept it cool and dry in storage it will last many, many years.


Mark
 
H4831 said:
Not one of you guys have talked about OLD componets!
I still have WW2 surplus powder that they named H4831. It came in 50 pound kegs and cost about $20 a keg. I still use it, just last week I loaded and shot some in my 243. Still works perfect.
I have RWS primers that I purchased in the mid 1960s.
Click to expand...
Sounds like my father, except he used-up the last of his RWS primers before the turn of the century. He's still got a bunch of similar vintage CIL primers tho'. And he's down to about 15 lbs of his last keg :(



H4831 said:
Fellows, you have a lot to learn about the shelf life of reloading compnents and loaded ammunition.
Click to expand...
 
H4831 said:
Not one of you guys have talked about OLD componets!
I still have WW2 surplus powder that they named H4831. It came in 50 pound kegs and cost about $20 a keg. I still use it, just last week I loaded and shot some in my 243. Still works perfect.
I have RWS primers that I purchased in the mid 1960s. The only reason I still have some is because RWS are really good primers and I have nursed them along over the years, for special occassions.
Some of my Norma powder also probably dates back to the 1960s. Still works perfect.
I still have some Herters powder which I have recently been successfully using. Many of you guys have probably never even heard of Herter's powder.
Fellows, you have a lot to learn about the shelf life of reloading compnents and loaded ammunition.
Click to expand...

Bruce, you cheapskate. My 50 pound kegs of 4831 cost me $22 in 1970 at Ed Karrer's Gunnatorium in Milhaven. I have about 5 pounds of that powder left, along with a couple of thousand red and green packaged CIL large rifle primers. All work just fine.

Some of the Higginson's surplus powder didn't fare as well though. Had to scrap about 10 pounds of the #44 powder and a 7lb box of N160 that started sweating and clumping.

The #44 powder became quite unstable and corrosive, causing the cans to rust inside and a bore in a lovely little Mod 70 FWT, 257 Rob to rust when I put it away for a week, without cleaning it.

Look at the power. If it has an acidic smell or has rust colored dust in it you can expect it to be bad. If it's a nice shiney grey, it should be fine.

This is off topic but I picked up some powder from an auction many years ago and all of it was packed in a wooden box in 1lb cans. I didn't notice it at first, but all of the cans had the paint rubbed off in certain areas and the cans on the outside of the box had actually left indentations in the wood, as deep as the rolled seams on the top an bottoms of the cans. The base boards had indentations worn in them from the bottom edges as well.

I bought this stuff for a couple of bucks/pound.

It was H4895 and a powder I used a lot at the time.

Anyway, when I poured it into the reservoir on the throw measure, it looked a bit dull in appearance. No smell, no rust colored dust but there was dust, which is unusual.

Not really having much experience at the time and being a naturally cheap bastard, I was bound and determined to use the powder.

H4895 is a mid range powder and suitable for the 30-06, 303Brit and the 8x57 Mauser, along with others in that range. Very forgiving and consistent as well.

Well, I loaded up fir my old P17 a batch of surplus brass, with 165 grain bullets to while away a cold night and took them out to shoot on my next days off. WOW is a polite term. That stuff was hot as hell, even though the loads weren't anywhere near maximum.

The primers were not just flattened, but perforated and smeared. I shot two rounds just because and called it quits. Didn't even bother to check the target. My buddy finished it off. Cheap bastard as well.

It turns out that all of the powder was a write off. The fellow that put it up for auction, had stored it on a shelf in a small warm room, over a 25hp, dual lung compressor, mounted on a wooden floor. The powder was there for years and when he retired, he gathered up the powder along with a bunch of other stuff that didn't sell with the shop and put it up for auction.

At the time, PO Ackley was still alive and well and as I had met him, I gave him a call to explain the situation, still to cheap to throw away several pounds of powder.

He had run across similar situations before. The graphite coating on the granules had been worn off by the constant vibrations from the air compressor and as these coatings control burn rates, the powder was no longer safe, consistent or viable. He suggested I burn it. He also suggested that I was lucky I didn't get to wear part of that P17.

Now that is an extreme situation and not likely to happen to most people. Especially not to the OP but it is relavent and something to watch for.
 
H4831 said:
Not one of you guys have talked about OLD componets!
I still have WW2 surplus powder that they named H4831. It came in 50 pound kegs and cost about $20 a keg. I still use it, just last week I loaded and shot some in my 243. Still works perfect.
I have RWS primers that I purchased in the mid 1960s. The only reason I still have some is because RWS are really good primers and I have nursed them along over the years, for special occassions.
Some of my Norma powder also probably dates back to the 1960s. Still works perfect.
I still have some Herters powder which I have recently been successfully using. Many of you guys have probably never even heard of Herter's powder.
Fellows, you have a lot to learn about the shelf life of reloading compnents and loaded ammunition.
Click to expand...

H4831 - a great powder that got Bruce Hodgdon started as I recall and kick-started handloading.

I still shoot swedish powder that I pull-down from the 8X63 ammo that Marstar was selling up until about five years ago. It's all dated from the early 1940's, so it's 70+ years old. Mind you it was obviously stored well, first by the Swede's, then the Dominican Republic who bought their stocks in the 1950's, then by Marstar, then by me.

Powder does not need to be treated like a new-born baby - for the most part, keep it dry and away from intense heat, and it will last a very long time.
 
Andy said:
H4831 - a great powder that got Bruce Hodgdon started as I recall and kick-started handloading.

When Bruce Hodgdon first put it on the market he called it "4350 Data Powder.)
That was because they hadn't yet fully tested it, but they gave instructions to use 4350 loading information, which was safe, and loaders could get dirt cheap powder that worked.
This happened right after WW2. There had been no production of anything related to shooting for civilian use during the war time years. Thus there was a vast shortage, of everything! This, coupled with the great numbers of returning service personell who had received firearm training and were anxious to get shooting, kicked off the great period of about twenty years, which I call the glory years of shooting.
Certainly, all that cheap powder Hodgdon put on the market played it's part. And soon such people as Jack O'Connor and Warren Page became household became household names.
It was O'Connor who worked up (largely because that was all the powder the case would hold) the classic load of 60 grains of H4831 in the 270, with 130 grain bullets. So many reloaders hung on every word O'Connor wrote, that soon the whole reloading community was using this load and when Hodgdon's worked up loads for their new powder, they just added in Jack's load, without further testing!
Sorry for getting carried away here.
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I am shooting up the last of a powder lot that was discontinued in the 1960's
Still just fine.
As for primers, they are good to go unless exposed to oil or were wet at some time.
Regards, Eagleye.
 
My powder doesn`t usually get to sit for 30 or 40 years, you boys better get at it, or they`ll be handing out packages of it to fellow shooters at your funeral.:D No red dust and acidic smell, it`s good to go.
 
Some good info and stories, guys.:D
I don't have any powder dating back to WW2, but I did chuckle at the OPs 5 year question.:D I've bought powders at auction and estate sales (yeah, I'm another cheap bastard:redface:) that have been early 60's and up. No problems with any of them yet.
 
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